Persuading is helping people to overcome the internal obstacles that prevent them from taking action.
Jordan Belfort says that the key to selling is to maintain control of the interaction. And that’s why he coined the term “straight line”, you want to lead the prospect straight to the sale.

These are the three tenets of Jordan Belfort’s Straight Line Persuasion:

Develop rapport quickly

Gather intelligence (do they have the money, is the product a good fit, are they ready to go?)

Control the interaction

Controlling the interaction means that, without breaking rapport or pushing, you gently nudge the prospect back towards the straight line towards the sale

Art of Prospecting

Prospecting means finding people who are interested while at the same time you are weeding out those who aren’t going to buy without wasting any of your time.

Qualify as quickly as possible while still keeping rapport and. and use a script.
Similar to the advice of other sales beasts such as Brian Tracy, Belford recommends you work backward from the amount of money you want to make yearly until the amount of reach out you need to do daily.

The three keys here are:

Be enthusiastic as hell

Sharp as a tack

A figure of authority

Mastering Tonality

This is where Straight Line Persuasions start hitting its stride.
Belfort begins with my favorite part of the course: reading the script and breaking down what works and what doesn’t.

He focuses on tonality, here, and as you can imagine it cannot be properly explained in text.
Belfort says that tonality develops rapport at an unconscious level.
Take for example this script:

Hi, John! This is , calling from Global Capital, in Tampa, Florida. How’s it going today?

When you raise your voice at “Florida” you show pride of your job and conviction.

Great!
Now, if you recall, you attended a seminar last Friday at the Marriott Hotel, with one of our top Forex traders, James Arnell. Does that ring a bell?

Go up at the end of each block, as if you were adding “right?” and agreeing with him. You will build an unconscious yes ladder.
When you slightly raise your voice at “ring a bell” it communicates you expect them to remember.

Now if you recall…

Use a tone of mystery at “now if you recall” which you achieve by stressing the “ca” portion in reCAll and going slightly up as if you were asking them a question. Squint your eyes so that your body language naturally supports your tonality.
The tone of mystery will nudge them into searching into their minds of their experience.
Genius.

OK great, now the reason for the call today..

Drop your voice here, so it sounds like you’re sharing an insider secret, and it implies scarcity (read Influence by Cialdini for more on scarcity).

Is that you’re one of the last of the group who hasn’t actually enrolled yet

Put “one of the last of the group” all together, and you sound sharp like a tack

I’d like to share an idea with you. You got a minute?

Go up at “you got a minute”, to sound what Belfort calls the “reasonable man effect”.

Being a Visionary

People won’t buy into your goals, but they will buy into your vision. Which is why Belfort also mentions it’s important that you find your why.
In this module Belfort steps back live coaching and demonstration to go into more theoretical knowledge of sales, human psychology and body language.

In this module Belfort delves into the personal mindsets and beliefs that makes a successful salesperson -or successful person, period-.
He talks for example about the important of mastering your emotional states, facing your fears and setting lofty goals (also read The Magic of Thinking Big).

The Straight Line System

Here Jordan Belfort goes back into the actual selling process.
He explains the three tenets of closing, such as the elements that need to line up in the moment of time when your prospect is ready to buy:

They love your product

They trust and connect with you

Trust your company

How to Ask

The more personal the questions are, the more you should make them sound off handed and informal. For example:

Out of curiosity, what are you trading right now?

If he talks a lot don’t interrupt but don’t go off tangent with chit chat and unrelated topic. Empathize, make a comment and then go back to the straight line.
You’re a busy professional: respect his time and your time.

The Art of Qualifying

Straight Line Persuasion goes back here into my favorite part: going through the straight line scripts with live coaching.
Here are a few examples:

How much money do you have in the stock market, just a ball park?

Whenever you ask someone about money, always always go into a disarming tone. Imagine you were putting your hands up in front of you with open palms, as if to say “no pressure…. Just a ballpark”.
This part was possibly the most awesome of them all for me: huge learning for me.

Are you looking for that right now or do you have to raise the money

Another gem in par with the above one.
The volunteer got the tonality completely wrong and at first blush I totally miss it. Then Jordan Belfort delivers the same line and explains the difference.
Since this is a highly probing question, you have to deliver it matter of factly, with an inflection that says “we know how it is, no big deal! Just tell me, maybe I can help you”.

Just for suitability purposes, how would you say your current financial situation is right now?

With this one you communicate rapport and that your questions are “just for suitability purpose”. Otherwise you two could have a friendly chat with a beer.

The Presentation

In this section Jordan Belfort goes into the actual presentation of your offer.
He explains the perfect tonalities to communicate:

Scarcity

Certainty

Disarming

The parts I liked the most:

How to box people in (use with integrity)

Create urgency in the last part of the script

Use a soft close, such as “sounds fair enough?”

How to emotionally drive the prospect towards a state of certainty

Handling rejections with looping

Power of Language

Straight Line Persuasion delves here into the nitty gritty of language and words choices.
Here are some gems:

Virtually

Virtually gives you free rein to make as many bold claims as you want without committing 100% or lying.

Huge upside with little downside

People are naturally inclined to look for worst case scenarios. This sentence addresses their fears while also allowing them to dream at the same time.

Incredibly easy to get started

People are lazy: they don’t want to do the legwork after agreeing. Remove the fear of big time commitment.
If they’re afraid of consequences, say it’s incredibly easy to modify or change the terms.

It’s a long-term relationship

It assumes you’re closing soon, reassures them and builds rapport.

Please don’t misconstrue my enthusiasm for pressure

In case you feel you’ve been coming off too strong.

Save the Best for Last

Get progressively more convincing as you get closer to the close:

If you only do half as well as my clients..

All I ask is that you give me on shot..

Believe me you won’t be sorry

Becoming a Person of Influence

Jordan Belfort says you must respect if your customer cannot afford the product or if the product is not good for him.
But you should not accept a stall.
If he doesn’t like the product but you feel it’s perfect for him, loop back until you convince him with logic. If the stall is emotional, educate him on your company and your company building rapport.

Finally, Belfort restates again the importance of building relationships based on honesty and trust.

Shout out to thepowermoves.com for doing this written summary

To buy the book, click the link in the image below to purchase from Book Depository

What is Best Book Bits you ask? Simply put we take a book, read it, study it, find the best book bits, the golden nuggets and present them in this presentation. I believe this is the Fastest & Easiest way on the Planet to get the information you need in the shortest amount of time